


Hear Me Out

by Leaving_tomorrow



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Axel is smitten right away, But they're mostly only mentioned sorry, Cloud and Leon are great parents, Deaf Roxas, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Roxas and Sora (Kingdom Hearts) are Twins, service dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 06:12:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16341311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leaving_tomorrow/pseuds/Leaving_tomorrow
Summary: Roxas is a city boy, born and raised in Southern California, living with his two dads and fraternal brother, Sora.Well, at least on the weekends. Roxas is a deaf 17-year-old; primarily living in a dorm-like cottage with a 'loud' roommate, at a deaf school. His life has been pretty normal, but it gets more interesting when he immediately falls for a flirty, red-head—who was way out of his league. Plus, he was hearing. No guy would go through all the effort of talking, let alone dating him, when he couldn't even hear, right?





	Hear Me Out

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers:  
> 1) I do not own any of the characters, of course.  
> 2) I have never written for the fandom, so, please, go easy on me.  
> 3) This story's main character is deaf, and I want to clarify that I, myself, am not. However, I got this idea in my ASL 1 class, which I'm really enjoying, so I decided to go through with it. I hope there aren't too many glaring inaccuracies, I am only writing what I know. Constructive criticism is welcome.  
> This story likely isn't going to be very long, I could've waited until it was all finished--but, I wanted to upload it now and separate the events more concretely.  
> So, without futher do, I really hope you enjoy.

When they heard their surrogate was expecting twins, they were ecstatic. They weren’t quite prepared yet with supplies for two babies, let alone one just yet, but it was an easy fix; Cloud had insisted that they were financially stable, on top of being mentally ready, to have a family. Leon could only roll his eyes at his husband, but he wasn’t a stranger at taking extra shifts at the station anyways.

So, they got double of everything. They had gone over every checklist of what was needed for a baby, and they finally had everything set up and ready a week before their surrogate went into labor. The whole process was exhausting and extremely expensive, so they couldn’t even imagine how much worst it was for their friend, who they paid half as much than some stranger to carry their future children, to give birth to twin boys at 5am (5:03 and 5:25, respectively) on March 28th.

There were no complications in the eight-hour labor, thank god. They were fraternal twins, one with brown hair and the other with blonde, and they both weighed at a healthy seven pounds. It was an incredible moment; getting to hold and speak to the babies they had loved from the beginning.

They got their paperwork all accounted for, filling out their birth certificates, and the babies were monitored and tested for 48 before they were all free to go home. The babies passed their car seat tests with ease, but when it came to the hearing test—the blonde one, who they decided to name Roxas, failed. Then, he failed the second hearing screening, which was given right after, and the doctor told them to come back next week to try again. It wasn’t super uncommon for babies to not pass their hearing tests, the ratio was on average 1 out of 5, but of course they still worried.

Their anxiety worsened when they went back and Roxas failed for the third time. By that point, they were referred to an audiologist. Their appointment was scheduled for two months later, maybe hoping that Roxas would develop more auditorily by then. Cloud and Leon couldn’t tell how bad his hearing was, as Roxas cried even more than Sora, his brown-haired younger brother.

But, unlike Sora, Roxas didn’t react at all to their shushing or singing to calm him, therefore needed to be rocked for much longer. They weren’t at a complete lost for what to do yet, since they were both only babies. But, then the appointment came, and they discovered with absolute certainty that Roxas was profoundly deaf. It was due to genetics from his mother’s side, which none of them expected.

It was heartbreaking at first, believing that Roxas would miss so much from the world. The sound of their voices, music, rain, birds, anyone at school or in shows or movies; so many little things that they take for granted. But, he’d also miss the loud, awful sounds like: a gunshot, a car crash, a police siren, or an alarm clock at 8am on a Saturday. 

However, after doing some research and talking with other parents in the community, their opinions changed. They both realized that sound was an important aspect in their experiences through life, but it absolutely wasn’t such a detrimental thing for Roxas’s development.

At their next appointment, when the doctor firmly told them how it’d be better for Roxas to solely learn oralism, teach him how to read lips and speak by mimicking mouth shapes and breathing patterns to communicate, they weren’t exactly sure what to do. Getting Roxas hearing aids proved to give them their resolve though, as they didn’t help him at all; so, what was the point of trying to teach him in a way he’d have more trouble with?

They decided ASL was the way to go, teaching him visually so he’d understand better. First, they had to learn the language themselves. They both tried to learn, but Cloud had enough time for online classes, normally being an online tutor and stay-at-home-dad, so the responsibility focusing on Roxas fell on him while Leon worked his all-day shifts and then taught Sora. Roxas thrived due to the change, the extra attention, but he seemed to also like when they all were like a family learning the basic signs together.

He learned quickly and smiled much more often. From then on, Roxas was enrolled in an infant deaf program and made a few close friends. He was never as enthusiastic and friendly as Sora even while growing up, but Roxas always attempted to communicate with Sora’s hearing friends with gesturing and body language, which worked out for the time being. Later on, there was a discussion about him getting a cochlear implant, which would allow him to hear a small range but must got through years of speech therapy, where they decided they’d continue to embrace his deafness in stride. Roxas didn’t seem to into the idea either, probably because he feared the surgery or just didn’t want to go through all that work with therapy. Sora, being so exposed to ASL he’d naturally picked it up, agreed that it sounded like it’d be a pain and signed that he liked him as he was. Roxas could only beam and hug his brother for that, unafraid of being happy and showing love.

Of course, there were kids and adults alike who were mean. They didn’t want to try talk/sign to him at all. There were plenty of kids at the park who got angry, yelled and pushed him for not hearing, therefore not understanding, them. There were adults, family members, who had asked Cloud if Roxas had been ‘cured’ yet or interrogated him as to why they’d bother to learn and teach him sign language instead of normal, spoken English. There were so many people in the world who didn’t want to accept their deaf child; put them into a mainstream school, which, while they did offer an interpreter, most deaf children were secluded or bullied, not being called on when they know the answer to the teacher’s question or not being picked for sports.

Besides being enrolled in the residential school for the deaf, Roxas, generally, got to be normal. He blasted his music way too loud, finding love in the vibrations of punk-rock and heavy-metal, ignored people in public by wearing headphones, drank Caramel Macchiatos from Starbucks at least twice a week, played basketball and even learned to skateboard when he was 14.

Well, maybe ‘learned’ wasn’t the correct word. He had gotten good at it, naturally having good balance and he was able to do simple tricks. Thing was, one afternoon, he was hit by a car. Thankfully, only his arm was broken, and even though the driver was an absolute dick having to yell at Leon, since Roxas could only blink and furrow his eyebrows at the man, they all decided that he wasn’t going to skateboard again. Being bedridden for six months was torture for him, and while he also became somewhat fluent signing with his non-dominant left hand, he got something more out of it.

Once he was healed, he was given ‘an early birthday present.’ That being: a hearing dog. She was a two-year-old, sleek, black Labrador Retriever named Lucy. They had already planned on giving her to him after she completed her full training, as she was bred and trained specifically for him. She was trained to retrieve and deliver his antidepressants every morning and to alert him to any noise such as: door knocking, phone ringing, traffic, his name or when someone was approaching him from behind to get his attention.

So, that was another thing that Roxas had that wasn’t considered ‘normal’ to most of society. It was more of a norm for people to fake service dogs, to bring them everywhere since they loved them so much. It gave Roxas another reason to not want to talk to hearing people, because Lucy was there with all her credentials and training to save his life, period. She became one of the blessings he had in his life. Besides his supportive parents, brother, amazing friends Hayner, Pence and Olette; Lucy became his best friend. She had to be, as she was the only one who could go with him everywhere—including school.

He was enrolled in California School for the Deaf, Riverside. He was driven to the bus stop and was picked up on Sunday evening, lived on campus all the way through the week until the bus dropped all the students back off on Friday afternoon, to spend the weekend with their families. He was eternally grateful for it, still being able to be close with all of them while being involved with his community, unhindered.

He had gone up the ranks from elementary, middle school and then to high school. Roxas was serving his last high school year with senior privileges, such as having his car on campus. Thankfully he got his license on the first try, having 12 minor faults due to not fully stopping or traffic checking, but it was invigorating once the adrenaline of passing replaced his nervous, near-panic attack. They got milkshakes and KFC to celebrate, which was the best decision he’s made. The problem with having his hand-me-down blue, 2010 Ford Focus on campus was that he had to tell a Student Life counselor if he wanted to go off campus and he had to come back at the time they requested.

Since the school kept progress reports on them and sent them to their families, Roxas was sure to keep up good behavior by following the rules, no matter how much he wanted to break them, which earned him gold level in high school. Having a gold level allowed him to have the privilege of going off campus by himself or with a friend (granted a supervisor or the principal gave them the go ahead) for up to two hours between 3:30pm-8:80pm on Mondays through Thursdays, his cottage’s bedtime being 11:30pm and being allowed to study on his own without a set time limit. He’d gotten use to the routine during normal class, having basketball and cooking as after school activities, when he wasn’t studying.

His roommate was someone he couldn’t stand very often, if he was personally honest. Daisukenoji Bito, whose nickname was Beat, was…loud, in his own way. He always acted tough, while genuinely being hard-headed and hot-blooded, impulsive, a bit dense, he also loves to ‘talk’ and jump to conclusions. However, he has a soft side when it came to protect those he cared about, especially his little sister Rhyme, who was currently in the middle school there. There was hardly any bullying, but he was always is ready to fight if he had to. Him and Roxas had a mutual understanding that they had each other’s back, even though they didn’t hang out much besides sometimes playing basketball together. But man, was he an idiot sometimes.

One chilly Tuesday in December, after getting into a heated argument with him, as Beat somehow snuck in a one-liter bottle of Dr. Pepper into the room, then proceeded to—like an absolute dumbass—spill it on Roxas’s bed and the ground. Thankfully, it missed his backpack which had all his completed work he’d done earlier after school. After five minutes of intense signing between the two about how he was a fucking moron and about why he thought it’d be a good idea to bring it in here, Beat saying it was for them to bond more since they weren’t as close as most people were with their roommates; Roxas stormed out and immediately told the supervisor what happened, staying back for a few minutes for Beat to take the complete blame for him to be able to leave. Once it was settled, after 10 agonizing minutes, he signs out and walks with Lucy to the designated parking lot to go for a drive.

It was 7, so he had to come back by 8:30, but he learned that when something like this happened he had to cool his head. Heading down the unfamiliar streets was still a bit jarring, his phone constantly rerouting him when he didn’t have the time for right now, he finally ends up at an empty basketball court. Locking the car after letting Lucy out, he closed the door with his hip and pocketed the keys. He half-heartedly ties her leash to the bench, knowing she can easily get out if she needs to, while also acting like he was following the law for any officer that got curious to check. Though, Lucy was trained to alert him if an officer did decide to try to sneak up behind him to talk, so, she’d get out easily anyways. But, he could pretend to just be ignorant and ‘Whoops, my bad. Sorry, Officer.’ Wrapping his red letterman jacket around his waist, exposing a white shirt with the black text ‘It is going to be okay’, he pulls up his tight black jeans a bit, before pushing his black beanie further onto his head—he dribbles one of the balls that he found in the corner and takes off on the court.

There was something calming about being so focused on making a shot, same with practicing his crossovers or scoring from every different point line. Feeling the wind in his face while his body warmed up, sweat starting to form on his lower back as he made another shot into the hoop.

For the 10, 20 minutes he was playing, he had no clue that someone else was watching him from a distance. Nor did he realize that the person had walked closer and proceeded to try and talk to him. It was only when Lucy got her leash out of the weak knot to stride up to him and nudge her nose against his hand, using her nose to point to the noise happening behind him, that he finally noticed the man.

He was unnecessarily tall, being at least 6 foot, while Roxas was stuck at 5’6”; he also had vibrant red hair, no way it could be natural, which style resembled a porcupine. Ridiculously green, sharp eyes…was that eyeliner? Tan skin and purple, upside down tear drop tattoos under his eyes. He had a strong jaw with equally strong features and was wearing way too tight clothes, a grey tank top and black jeans, which showed that he was mostly lanky but toned and had a thinner waist than he’d seen on most girls. He was…weirdly hot, though it mostly was his face that Roxas’s eyes repeatedly went to. The hot guy’s lips started moving before stopping in a smirk resembling the Cheshire cat, Roxas immediately had the feeling by how he was leaning that he probably said something flirty and incredibly cheesy. He seemed like the type. Or, maybe that’s just what Roxas was hoping he did. It definitely wasn’t every day that he saw a hot guy with an infectious smile.

Seeing the man’s smile drop, he started talking again but Roxas was quick to put his hand up and shakes it to stop him. Using his pointer finger, he points to himself and then touches the bottom of his chin then immediately up his jawline to point at his ear. Watching him blink, he motions the signs again while mouthing ‘I’m deaf.’ He quickly points at Lucy, who had her very helpful burgundy vest on, which stated: Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Watching the man’s eyes widen and mouth drop with an “Ohhh, shit”, Roxas can read him say “Sorry” before he rubs the back of his neck with embarrassment. It made Roxas laugh a bit, it was a bit endearing seeing such a tall guy shrink into awkwardness when he previously seemed so confident. The man looks at him again in surprise. Roxas registers that he must’ve made a physical noise when he laughed; it was probably ugly, but it wasn’t like he could tell.

The guy smiles lightly, more genuinely, and Roxas feels a stupid flutter in his stomach. Pushing that acknowledgement aside, he bites his lip before swallowing and putting the ball down before standing and looking up at him. Furrowing his eyebrows, he signs ‘What’s your name?’ Realizing the lost look once more, he points to the guy signing ‘your’, curling both hands into fists except for the pointer and middle fingers, he taps his right middle finger against his left pointer while mouthing ‘name’, then opening his hands, palms up and shaking them side to said to sign ‘what?’ He mouths ‘name’ one more time before it clicks, the man speaking against but Roxas shaking his head, signing ‘I can’t read lips.’ It seemed that the man somehow understands _that_ well enough, Roxas rolls his eyes at that fact, when he pulls out his phone. Tapping away from a few seconds, the phone turns to him to show a sentence **. Name’s Axel, get it memorized**. With a wink emoji at the end. Not able to do anything else but process the statement, Roxas finger spells Axel a few times to himself to ‘get it memorized’, as it were. He signs ‘My name R O X A S’, typing **I’m Roxas** into his phone and handing the phone back. Axel grins even wider than before, typing something before turning it to him, instantly making Roxas groan in disbelief. **Roxas, as in you have a rockin’ ass?** Putting his head in his hands, he covers his face and starts shaking his head. He couldn’t believe it. First his friends, now some random hot guy is making jokes out of his name?

He used to wonder about that, if his dads were drunk or stoned when they chose his name, especially since it was basically Sora. Sorax (Sore-Ax) probably would’ve been better than Rocks-Ass, all things considered—at least then people could think it’s like a dinosaur, or a future Pokémon. It didn’t matter that it’d be way too close to Snorlax; Sorax is unique and would be way better than that stupid keychain Pokémon. It’d be a dark and ice type and badass looking as hell.

While having this thought, Lucy paws at him which make him look up to find Axel looking down and grinning as he showed his notes to him once more. **Even though it means I can check you out more, you shouldn’t hide such a cute face.** Feeling his cheeks heat up, Roxas stands up straight and huffs, pouting and trying not to make eye contact before reaching out and taking his phone from his hands.

 **Should I find an officer and report you for sexual harassment? You can’t even see my ass.** Shoving it back into his hand, Roxas intertwines his fingers together after giving Lucy a few pets on her head. Looking up when Axel moves was a mistake, that Cheshire smirk enveloping his face again, the phone is in his vision at the same time. **Would you possibly want to change that?** Immediately giving him a light slap on the arm and rolling his eyes, he takes the phone and types before giving it back. **Yeah right, pervert. I’m not into old men.** Watching his reaction, he felt another flutter seeing Axel’s shoulders shake, his smile was all teeth as he guesses he was chuckling. Receiving another smirk and an eyebrow raise, he quickly types a few words.

 **So, you _are_ into men? ** Roxas shrugs his shoulders, thinking for a moment. He didn’t know how to express it, but he likes good people. He’s found various people attractive, no matter what they identified with or what they had in their pants. **What difference does gender make when it comes to personality?** Looking him up and down when he shows his statement, trying to see how he takes this new, personal information, which Roxas now realizes was probably weird giving out so easily, Axel simply smiles and shrugs at him. **I’m as gay as the fourth of July, so, no judgement here. Also, I’m only 19. I know this body can be deceiving.** Once he’s done reading, Axel straight-up winks and moves his hands down his sides to rest at his hips. Unbeknownst to himself, Roxas snorts after following his movements, licking his lips and shaking his head slightly. **You’re ridiculous.** Smiling lightly, Axel smiles back looking down at him, about to type something else when Roxas’s phone vibrates in his pocket. Taking his phone out, he sees the timer he set for himself, instinctually signing ‘Shit,’ He had half an hour left, and he’d need that to get back. Rubbing along Lucy’s snout a few times, he looks up at Axel for a second before opening his own notes and typing **I have to go** before showing him.

Axel frowns, more in a playful ‘aww’ way, before illuminating his phone, which almost went to sleep, before responding back to the news.   **Well, if you wanted to file that sexual harassment report, you’d need a way for them to contact me, right? Make their job a bit easier?** Raising an eyebrow at him, Roxas fires back **If that’s your excuse to give me your number, then you’re really bad at this.** Axel smirks and shrugs again. Seeing how skinny he was, Roxas couldn’t imagine how Axel would look if he did yoga. His limbs were so long he’d be like a Jack in A Box toy—wait, nope, scratch that. He could totally imagine him doing yoga and that was _not_ what he needs to be imagining right now. Roxas gestures with his hand with a ‘give it’ motion, not looking at him when he lifts his thumb and pinky to his ear signing ‘phone’ and then using both hands, fingers pressed together, his pinky and ring finger holding his phone, before tapping while turning them side to side signing ‘number.’ Handing him his phone, he gets his info, with Axel’s last note he shows being a simple **Text me ;)** Roxas gives him a nod before taking Lucy’s leash, bringing her to the car and letting her get in the back before closing the door. Hopping into he driver’s seat, putting his phone in the dashboard mount and restarting maps to get the same route, he pulls out and briefly sees Axel wave before driving off.

It’s only once he’s back in his cottage, the carpet having been scrubbed as well as they could and his bed no longer smelling like Dr. Pepper, with new, clean extra sheets and blankets Beat’s family thankfully makes him take, did he notice Axel’s contact was ‘Flaming Homo’ with the basketball emoji, fire emoji and then the key emoji.

Furrowing his brow, he texts him **What’s the key represent?** Not two minutes later, Axel replies with two messages. The first is just the same key emoji. The second however, is **2 unlock ur** ♥ **;)** Roxas rolls onto his stomach, like the wind was knocked out of him, his head in his hand as he reads it repeatedly. Wanting to throw his phone across the room, cringing at the cheesiness makes Roxas’s first signs at Beat once he comes in, ‘What the hell did I get myself into?’ To say Beat is confused is an understatement, but Roxas gives no indication of explaining as he sets his phone down on his dresser and shoves his face into his pillow.

**Author's Note:**

> Side note: Sore-ax is a reference from something ;) If you get it, then you get 100 points to your Hogwarts house.


End file.
